North Dakota state senator Doug Larsen has been killed in a Utah plane crash alongside his wife and two kids.

Doug Larsen’s death was confirmed in an email that Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue sent to his fellow senators on Monday.

“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children died in a plane crash last evening in Utah,” Hogue wrote in his email. “They were visiting family in Scottsdale and returning home. They stopped to refuel in Utah. I’m not sure where the bereavement starts with such a tragedy, but I think it starts with prayers for the grandparents, surviving stepchild of Senator Larsen, and extended family of Doug and Amy. Hold your family close today.”

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The plane, which was a single-engine Piper, crashed shortly after taking off from Canyonlands Airfield Sunday evening about 15 miles north of Moab, the Grand County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement posted on Facebook. According to the sheriff’s office, all four people on board the plane were killed.

The crash was being investigated, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X, formerly called Twitter.

Who was Doug Larsen?

Larsen was a GOP lawmaker who was first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 2020. His district comprises Mandan, the city located near Bismarck to the west across the Missouri River. Larsen chaired a Senate panel that took care of industry and business legislation.

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He was also a lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota National Guard. In addition, he was also a business owner along with his wife, Amy.

Larsen also has a stepchild who was not on the plane.